Time and Again...And Again
by Black Lothlorien
Summary: Episode Insert to "Time and Again" - The episode ends a little differently, with Tom, on the alien planet, being hospitalized by Latika and his parents, one of whom who happens to be a jounalist...


"I am a hostage. These men are trying to break into the power plant."  
  
Tom winced inside when Captain Janeway said those words. Then his eyes widened. A gun trained on the child…they are going to shoot Latika! He spun and saw the young boy run.  
  
One of the men spun to shoot.  
  
Tom dove into the path without thinking. He felt the explosion of released pressure, and he felt his insides lurch in pain. The force hit him like a fist in the stomach, knocking him back, onto the grassy lawn.  
  
Latika was there in an instant, his small hands gripping his shoulder, "You saved my life!"  
  
"Tom!" She was by his side, helping him sit up as best he could.  
  
"I'll be all right, Captain," Tom Paris, you liar. You're bleeding internally, "Go. Stop them…"  
  
Janeway grabbed Latika's arm, "Will you stay with him until help arrives?"  
  
"Sure he will. We're—" Tom groaned in pain as blood spurted between his fingers, "We're old friends now."  
  
Latika nodded frantically as she took off towards the power plant, snatching a weapon on the way from one of the dead guards.  
  
"Are—are you gonna die?" Latika said, scared to death.  
  
"I sure hope not," Tom tried to smile, but it came out as a painful grimace. Tom, your blood is going out through your fingers. You have less than one hour to live, unless that explosion disintegrates you first.  
  
"My father says that you should keep breathing," Latika began to panic, "Um, first aid, first aid, why can't I remember my classes? You need…"  
  
"Latika, calm down," Tom coughed, "I'm a field medic myself. All I need is pressure on the wound and a miracle. Other than that, I'll be fine."  
  
"I never believed in miracles," The little boy began to cry, "You're going to die! You saved my life and now you're going to die!"  
  
"Hey, hey," Tom did not have any free hands to calm the boy with, one was holding him up, the other was on the wound. Carefully, he lowered himself down into the grass, freeing his hand. He reached out and touched the kid's shoulder, "Don't worry."  
  
He sniffled and suddenly dove forward, wrapping his little arms around the bigger human, "I don't want you to die!"  
  
Tom cried out involuntarily as the boy's weight made the pain in his stomach explode. Latika sprang away, apologizing profusely, tears still falling. Tom grimaced against the pain and tried to tell him that he would be fine…  
  
But another flush of blood sprayed past his fingers.  
  
"I'm going to get my dad!" Latika stood, ignoring the large spot of blood on his shirt, "Wait here!"  
  
"Latika, do you have…" Tom groaned, "Do you have a chronometer?"  
  
Latika nodded and pulled a small watch from his pocket. He handed it to Tom, and then took off running.  
  
The Starfleet officer sat up as best he could and looked at the tiny screen…the last number was almost 23…  
  
21…  
  
22…  
  
23…  
  
Nothing happened…  
  
Tom collapsed back into the grass. There was no explosion, no wave of searing heat, nothing. The captain had done her job. His eyes closed as his grip on his wound loosened and eventually released.  
  
Four figures ran from the power plant. One of them was Janeway.  
  
"Tom!" She tried to run to his side, but one of the men grabbed her around the waist and physically carried her away, "Let me go! He's dying!"  
  
Let's see, Tom…how long now before your body runs out of strength? About five minutes I'd say…  
  
Latika drug his mother by the sleeve out of her office. The older woman, named Norika, always indulged her son, and, from his babbling, she brought her bag of medical supplies in case of an emergency.  
  
"He's dead! I'm too late!" Latika released his mother's arm and knelt next to the man. He was crying hard.  
  
Norika sighed and reached out to her son when she heard the voice.  
  
"Hey, Latika, I'm still here," The man groaned in pain, "It takes more than a bullet wound to kill me."  
  
She dove to his side and removed his bloodstained hand from his side, "There is a lot of damage. Latika, go and find the Emergency Medics! I will wait here with him! Go, son!"  
  
The little boy ran off, leaving Norika with the stranger. She pulled a scanner from her bag and ran it over his body.  
  
"You have a great son," The man said.  
  
"And you have a very strange anatomy," She mused, stunned, "That projectile should have pierced your lower lung and second heart! But all it hit was your stomach, and some other organ…I don't know what it is."  
  
"I wish I had my tricorder…" He closed his eyes.  
  
"You are a doctor?"  
  
"A field medic…" His voice began to fade off.  
  
"No, don't fall asleep! Talk to me," Norika bit her lip as she worked on applying a pressure bandage on the wound, "What is your name?"  
  
"Thomas Eugene Paris."  
  
"Oh, come on, Thomas, tell me more about yourself," She pressed down, solicitating a cry of pain, "Sorry…"  
  
He groaned as he opened his eyes and looked at her, "Thomas Eugene Paris, Lieutenant, serial number…" His eyes closed again, "That isn't what you're looking for. You're trying to keep me from going into shock."  
  
"You are a medic," She smiled as she searched around for the EM's, "What is taking them so long? They should have been here by now. Latika is a fast runner, and he knows where to go."  
  
"I hear something…" The man's voice faded again. Norika reached for a pulse and found none. Moving quickly, using what she had found from her scanner, she rested both hands on his chest and pressed hard, five times.  
  
His pulse returned, weak, but steady.  
  
The Emergency Medics ran up seconds after, and immediately loaded the injured man onto a stretcher. Her last words to Thomas before she followed after them was, "Don't worry, Thomas, everything will be all right."  
  
Janeway stormed onto the bridge.  
  
"Report," She had just been rescued by Tuvok, B'Elanna, Harry, and Chakotay after time had reverted to the new timeline. Now that she had her uniform back on, she felt better about herself, but not about leaving Tom behind.  
  
"We have one human life sign on the planet very, very faint," Harry said quickly as Janeway stood by Chakotay.  
  
"Can you get me a visual of the area where he is?"  
  
On the screen, a large, rather slim lined building appeared, its pure white and beige color glinting in the sunlight.  
  
"It appears to be some sort of hospital," Harry commented, "There is an array on the side of the building. I can tap into it and try to find information on where they're holding Tom."  
  
"That would be spying," Janeway smiled slightly.  
  
"We already broke the Prime Directive…" Harry harmonized.  
  
"Do it," She smiled, "Find where he is and…"  
  
"I can do better than that, Captain," Harry interrupted excitedly, "I can get visual of his assigned room, I can track him wherever he goes, I show you where he is right now."  
  
"Impress me, Ensign," All eyes on the bridge went to the screen.  
  
Tuvok was the only person unfazed by what they saw. Tom was lying in a clean white room, a mask over his face. It was a good thing his eyes were closed, for the surgeons were working quickly.  
  
"What are they doing to him?" Janeway whispered.  
  
"Recorder dictates that they are removing the projectile from his system and repairing his damaged organs," Harry was white, "That surgery…it's so primitive…and they appear to be using a form of airborne anesthesia. Tom's going to have one hell of a headache."  
  
"It seemed to me that it will be a better fate," Janeway turned to Harry, "Shut that off, but keep monitoring them. I want to be informed the second that they finish. Tuvok, can we beam him up?"  
  
"I would not recommend doing so soon after this kind of surgery, Captain," The security officer intoned, "The change in atmosphere and breathing mixture may cause damage to his system."  
  
"All right then, we'll wait."  
  
The next few hours were torture to those aboard Voyager. Three times B'Elanna had contacted them, wondering if there was any new information. Finally, Janeway told her to transfer her work to the engineering console on the bridge.  
  
About an hour after B'Elanna had settled into the bridge, an alarm on Harry's console. The young man jumped forward and nearly tripped himself on his own feet.  
  
"Captain! He's out!" He said quickly, "They have moved him to an observation room."  
  
"We'll have to take this up in the morning," Janeway grumbled, "Harry, tell me when they move him from the observation room."  
  
"Uh, captain? You might want to look at this," Harry's voice cracked.  
  
"What is it, Ensign?" Chakotay demanded.  
  
"I was digging through their files, trying to find any more information on Tom's injuries," He looked at them, scared, "I found a transfer request for him, as soon as he's well enough, to move him to a government facility."  
  
"They're going to think that he's a threat, an alien threat," Janeway mused, "We have to go in tonight then. Tuvok, can you get a hold on him and beam him to sickbay?"  
  
"I would, Captain, but there is a problem," Tuvok sounded disgruntled, "In the observations rooms, I am detecting a force field, meant for particle containment. It is disrupting the transporter beam."  
  
"Damn it, why does everything have to become so hard all of a sudden?" The Captain groaned, her hand going to her forehead, "Tuvok, Tom—"  
  
She stopped herself. This was one time that she wasn't able to call on Tom's abilities, "Tuvok, gather a team of two. We're going down there to retrieve him."  
  
"Captain, I'd like to go."  
  
B'Elanna and Harry jumped from their seats at the same time.  
  
"Let's get going."  
  
Tom's eyes fluttered open heavily as he tried to get a hold on his surroundings. There was a mask over his mouth and nose, and he tasted pure, fresh air flowing past his face.  
  
He tried to speak, but his tongue was thick and wouldn't move. A bright light shone into his eyes, blinding him.  
  
A cool hand fell onto his forehead.  
  
"Shh, Thomas, the surgery was successful," It was the woman who had saved his life before, "Latika is here as well. He wanted to see you."  
  
Latika climbed up onto something and leaned over, joining his mother's head in blocking the light that threatened to blind him, "Hey, Tom. I told my dad about you. He wants to meet you too, but there are only two people allowed in here at a time."  
  
Tom's smile must have reassured him.  
  
"I tried to find Janeway, but I couldn't," He sighed, "Maybe she's back on your starship."  
  
"Starship, aliens, I'm sorry, Thomas, his imagination is wild," The woman squeezed his hand. Tom managed to find barely enough strength to whisper.  
  
"Hey, kid. Someday, if you work at it, you'll go into space, too," Then he sighed and looked away, tired. The woman slipped away and was replaced a few minutes later by a large, strongly built man.  
  
"Tom, this is my father, Rollik," Latika said.  
  
"Hello, Tom," He smiled down at the injured man, "I know you're not feeling in the best of shape, but I wanted to ask you a question or two."  
  
Tom could do nothing but nod.  
  
"Is it true that you are from a spaceship?"  
  
Tom nodded.  
  
"Are there more of you coming to this planet?"  
  
He shrugged.  
  
"Is there going to be an invasion from your world?"  
  
Tom shook his head as emphatically as he could without causing a warp core explosion between his ears.  
  
"Are you peaceful people?"  
  
Another nod.  
  
"Will you—"  
  
"Excuse me, sir, you need to step away. We've come for our crewmember."  
  
It was Janeway.  
  
"Captain?" Tom mumbled.  
  
"Yes, Tom, we're here," She laid a blanket over him, "Tuvok! This gurney doesn't move. We need to either punch a hole in that field or we need to find a way to carry him out of here. Sir, please put that away."  
  
Tom saw her take something that looked like a camera away from Latika's father.  
  
The light above him was abruptly shut off. Tuvok, his face unemotional, slipped his arms under Tom's shoulders and knees. The pilot had to bit his lip to avoid crying out in pain.  
  
Latika pointed, "He's bleeding again!"  
  
Sure enough, there was a large red stain beginning to spread on his white hospital tunic and pants.  
  
"Let's get going," Janeway led them into the hall. Two doctors saw them carrying him and one smashed an alarm set into the wall, Janeway hit her badge, "Voyager, five to beam up! Now!"  
  
Tom groaned as he opened his eyes to the hiss of a hypospray. He groaned when he saw the Doctor's face above him.  
  
"I believe he'll live, Captain," The Doctor leaned back with a smile.  
  
The pilot just grinned at the doctor and captain, "I think I'll live, too."  
  
Then a huge blast of white hot light enveloped them all…  
  
"Harry, I can't do this alone," Tom begged.  
  
"I'm sorry, but I really wanted to get on this scan," Harry turned away from his friend.  
  
"Aw, c'mon," His tone turned sly, "I told them all about you…"  
  
"What did you tell them?" Harry stared at him.  
  
Gotcha… Tom grinned. 


End file.
